Hi All,
My hotwater tank is natural gas and 12 years old, I know it doesn’t owe me anything but it acts really weird. If you shower first the water goes luke warm at best within a few minutes and stays that way. If you turn it off for about 20-30 minutes the next lucky person to shower gets all the screaming hot water they could possibly use.
I’m willing to replace it no problem but think it may be a cheaper fix that would get me reliable hot water for a while again? Advise is much appreciated.
Lee
Replies
I'd check the dip tube first.
It's on the cold "inlet" side, a plastic tube that forces the cold water down to the bottom.
“The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.” —Albert Einstein
leer, sorry for the thread hijack, but i have a related question for plumbbill...
i have a 40g electric heater, i understand there's no dip tube, but is there any thing i can do maintenance-wise to keep it running well? it's 5 years old, bradford-white. thanks.Expert since 10 am.
No dip tube?
Are your connections on the side or top?
Periodic draining is pretty much all you can do, you can swap out the anode, but opinions vary on wether that does extend the life of the water heater in a maintenance program.
“The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.” —Albert Einstein
First thing in the morning, measure how much hot water you have by filling 5 gal buckets. A 40 gal tank should give about 25 - 30 gal of hot and then start cooling down.
Then let the tank heat back up and repeat the measurement.
Some water heater gas valves have "sleeping sickness".
Don't laugh.
The differential on gas valves is fixed and is usually quite high, often 20 degrees or more. So if your tank is set at 120, it may cool down to 100 before it heats back up. And if you start your shower at 100, you may have a warm shower. But by the time the next shower starts, there is lots of 120 water.
Or it could be the dip tube.
Plumbbill,
I was curious about the dip tube, I'll check it out.
Rich1,
This is what I suspected but didn't know if it was actually a possibility(lag in heating). I'll look into this as well now that I know it may be occurring.
Thanks for your thoughts...
Lee